Exploring land recently released by ice (geologically speaking)

Beautiful in Brown

I can’t find a speck of green on the wetlands this morning except for the yellow-green paint on the channel navigational aids. The grass lays dead on mud and weathered drift logs. There are crows, black silhouettes that spread out like new owners of a run down amusement park.

This is a day to look up, not down, as the morning sun milks the white beauty out of surrounding mountains and glaciers. We hear a beautiful song and find it comes from a song sparrow—a plump little brown bird. Another sings the refrain from 10 feet away. Another brown bird—this time a Canada goose, lifts off the wetlands in a noisy flight.

The muted palette suits Aki and I this morning and I find many reasons to click the camera shutter. It may bore the one bald eagle we spot. He sits atop a screaming red navigation aid and calls to the sun for a spotlight, the ham.